Cardiovascular disease
• Disease of the heart and blood vessels
• Leading cause of death
• Attributed to way we live life
• Not all factors are controllable- sometimes inherited
Atherosclerosis: CVD in which the inner layers of artery walls are made thick and irregular by
deposits of a fatty substance; the internal channels of the arteries thus become narrowed, and
blood supply is reduced.
Plaque: A deposit of fatty (and other) substances on the inner wall of the arteries
Coronary heart disease: Heart disease caused by hardening of the arteries that supply oxygen to
the heart muscle; also called coronary artery disease. (Causes heart attacks)
Heart Attack: Damage to, or death of, heart muscles, sometimes resulting in a failure of the heart
to deliver enough blood to the body; also known as myocardial infarction (MI)
If one of the coronary arteries that supplies blood to the heart becomes blocked by a blood clot, a
heart attack results. A heart attack caused by a clot is called a coronary thrombosis.
Angina Pectoris: Chest pain that signals that the heart isn`t getting enough oxygen that it needs.-
A condition in which the heart muscle does not receive enough blood, causing serve pain in the
chest and often in the left arm and shoulder.
If the electrical impulses that control heartbeats are disrupted, the heart may beat too quickly, too
slowly, or in an irregular fashion, a condition known as arrhythmia.
Sudden cardiac death: Also known as cardiac arrest is most often caused by an arrhythmia
called Ventricular Fibrillation, a kind of “quivering” of the ventricle that makes it ineffective in
pumping blood. If VF continues for more than a few minutes it can be fatal.
Not all hear attacks involve sharp pain; women experience short breath, weakness, unusual
fatigue, cold sweat, dizziness, and nausea.
Asprin has an immediate anticlotting effect.
Certain characteristic changes in the heart’s electrical activity while it is under stress can reveal
particular heart problems, such as restricted blood flow to the heart muscle.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electronbeam computed tomography (EBC),
echocardiograms, and angiograms are tools used to visualize a patient’s heart and arteries
